Page 13 of The Enemy of My Enemy: Pt. 2

As soon as I said the words, that tick in Viktor’s jaw was back.“I didn’t order the fucking hit.How many times do I have to tell you that?”

“You don’t have to say it at all,” I fired back.“Especially, since I probably won’t ever believe you.”

“I didn’t fucking do it!”he roared again, and if I was anyone else, I might believe him.However, with one attempt on my life already, I couldn’t afford to believe him.“I also can’t find out who did it if you won’t tell me what happened!”

“You know what happened,” I pointed out stubbornly.“You can’t tell me that you don’t have cameras at the piers.”

Calming down, he said, “There’s a difference between seeing what happened and knowing what happened.There’s no audio in the surveillance.”

“You should probably remedy that,” I drawled out.“I mean, you wouldn’t want to make the same mistake with your next wife.”

Viktor’s chin went up, and the fire in his eyes was unmistakable.“I will only ever have one wife,” he said, his voice hard and tight.“And I already told you what would happen if you ever thought about leaving me.”

“Oh, and what was that?”Santino chimed in, my brothers clearly looking for blood.

Looking straight over at Santino, Viktor said, “I told her that I’d follow her to the ends of the earth, then drag her back by any means necessary, and that still holds true.”

Instead of getting angrier, Santino just laughed.“Christ, you really have no idea what you’ve gotten yourself into.”

Not wanting to give up all my secrets just yet, my father finally put an end to the meeting.“You’ve come to say what you have to say, and now that you’ve said it, you can be on your way.Aurora needs to rest.”

“I came to take my wife home with me,” Viktor spat.

“Well, that’s not happening,” my father replied evenly.“She will be nowhere near any Korolevs until we’re certain that she is well enough to defend herself from whatever may come her way.”

“You can’t keep me from my wife,” Viktor stated, though we all knew that he was merely reaching.

“I’ve already told you that I’ll be back,” I reminded him.

Viktor looked at me as he said, “Coming back to kill me is vastly different than you coming home, so that I can take care of you.”

Instead of letting me reply to that, my father spoke up again.“See Mr.Korolev to his car.We are done here.”

“I’m not,” Viktor argued, and he was either very brave, stupid, or both.

“Do not take advantage of the consideration that I granted Aleksei,” my father said.“I’ve also already made it clear that Aurora can only heal where she feels safe, and that is not with you at the current moment.”

Finally accepting defeat, Viktor looked at me as he said,“YA yeshcho ne zakonchil s toboy, zhena.Eto yeshcho daleko ne konets.”

“Well, for now, you’re done with her, and as for this not being over, that’s the one thing that all of us in this room can agree on,” my father stated, letting Viktor know that weallspoke and understood Russian.“Now, take your leave before only your brother is left to take over after Aleksei is gone.”

Nothing more was said as Viktor turned to leave, Santino and Stefano right there with him, making sure that he got into his car and left, and it wasn’t even five minutes later that my brothers were back, my father practically drinking his favorite bourbon right out of the bottle.

“Well, that was entertaining,” Stefano grumbled as he took a seat next to me, Santino opting to join my father for a drink.

After they all got settled, I asked, “So, what do you think?Is he lying or telling the truth?”

To my surprise, Stefano said, “It doesn’t matter what we think, Aurora.The only thing that matters is ifyoubelieve him or not.”

I looked over at my brother.“What?No opinion?”

“Oh, I have an opinion,” he replied.“I just don’t think it’s one that you’re going to like or even agree with.”

That piqued my curiosity.

“Oh, do tell,” I drawled out.

After looking around the room at all of us, Stefano said, “While I wouldn’t go so far as to say that I believe him, he might deserve the benefit of the doubt.”